Hi, my name is Karen and I’m a data nerd. I love information design, bullet journaling and long walks on the beach at sunset.
But seriously, here’s how I’ve set up the aforementioned Me-Made May tracker in my mini bullet journal. In designing the layout, I wanted to track how often I wear me-mades, the average percentage I wear as a proportion of any outfit, plus literally what garments I wore and which category they fall into. I couldn’t bring myself to make it just me-made vs ready-to-wear, since some things literally fall in between — like second-hand jeans, an upcycled State Smock (especially if I dyed it), a refashion, a RTW tee I screenprinted, etc. So there’s MM (me-made), H (hybrid) and RTW along the right side of the tracker for breaking each outfit into its parts. And then along the right of the spread there’s the Wear Count. I can fit about 30 garments into the page, which should be more than enough. When I set that 20×30 challenge for myself a couple of Octobers ago, I wound up wearing not quite 20, I think. But instead of pre-picking them, or necessarily enforcing a limit, I want to allow for that to take shape somewhat naturally. Of course, there’s some serious Observer Effect at play here, since this will make me more self-conscious as I’m getting dressed about whether I’m wearing me-made and what and how often. But it’s more game than science experiment, so that’s cool.
If I keep it up, I’ll do the following and share the results —
TO BE TALLIED:
– the number of days I wore something me-made
– the average percentage of MM worn
– the total instances of MM | H | RTW items
– what garments I wore
– how many of those garments are me-made (denoted by a bullet in the list)
(Dot-grid memo book from Fringe Supply Co.)
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PREVIOUSLY in Me-Made May: My 2019 pledge (and more)
nice idea!! and you are so analytical (i mean that in a good way!). can’t wait to see the end results.
Interesting idea to track how you are wearing your makes!
Pardon my nerdery, but I’m curious about how you’re deciding on the denominator for the percentages at the left hand side. It seems like some classes of garment are always left out? How are you reasoning about situations where, for instance, you have 2 days with the same absolute numbers of me-mades, but the percentage differs because one outfit contained an extra layer? E.g., if you wore the same me-made shirt and pants one day (100%), then added a RTW sweater/jacket/scarf another day (66%). And do hybrid garments count toward the percentage at a reduced rate?
I’m trying not to overthink it. ;)
Fair enough!
Rereading my comment, I hope I didn’t come off like I was poking holes in your effort — if so, I apologize. For me, mulling the details of measurement instrument design is the *fun* part of a data collection effort (albeit one fraught with trade-offs and usually lacking in completely satisfying answers). So picture me asking those questions like somebody excited to hear about the details of yarn choice and pattern mods for her friend’s new sweater project (*not* like someone with arms crossed and eyebrow raised!).
No worries, Julia, that’s how I took it! I’m a recovering perfectionist so for me it’s sometimes great to just not worry about the details, especially in a situation like this one. But if you have thoughts on how to correct for those factors, I’m all ears!
This is a great idea. I’m not feeling as ambitious as you about my wardrobe, at the moment, but will keep this in mind. Thanks!
I’m trying to get myself in there!
Terrifyingly organized, at least to someone who typically wears a “uniform” and just rolls out of bed into whatever is clean (it’s all in a planned palette so everything goes together). Oh, but I did spend the day making Grainline’s Willow Tank in pale blue linen to start off MMMay.
That sounds lovely.
This makes my “if I wore it it’s in the laundry hamper now” system look very unsophisticated. ;)
Any system that works for you is a good system. :)
I am not a data nerd, so perhaps I am missing the point, but it strikes me that the large missing piece of this is why there is no notation of the times when you wished you had something that you didn’t have, or the times when you wore what you had and found yourself feeling that you would have chosen differently if only… Even keeping a list on another page, or a journal, might help in the planning for the future.
No, you’re exactly right. I have an ongoing “mind the gaps” mentality when getting dressed — I try to always be aware of what it is I’m really lacking. And especially this part of the year where it’s just barely begun to be sleeveless season and I still have a shortage of things with sleeves that aren’t sweaters. So that’s the problem I’m already hyper aware of and trying to work out solutions for through this. You’re right that’s the part this tracker won’t track, but it will be an inevitable part of my summary of what I derive from the exercise.
love this!
I love this idea. Love my bujo tracking. Thanks for sharing. Will be interesting to see the results.
A bujo just doesn’t feel like it’s mine until there’s some idiosyncratic something or other in there. ;)
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